7.  The applicants in application no. 27238/03 are:
The applicants in application no. 35078/04 are:
8.  They live in the Urus-Martan district, Chechnya.
9.  The applicants belong to four families, members of whom were detained in three separate incidents in 2001 and 2002 in the town of Urus-Martan or in villages in the Urus-Martan district. The four men disappeared following their detention, and the families have been conducting the search for them together.
10.  The first four applicants are relatives of Imran Dzhambekov, who was born in 1979. The first two applicants are his mother and father, and the third and fourth applicants are his younger sister and brother. The Dzhambekov family live in their own house at 209 Sovetskaya Street in the village of Goyty in the Urus-Martan district. In March 2002 Imran Dzhambekov was a second-year student at the Grozny Oil Institute, in the faculty of Construction Management and Economics. The local police office in Urus-Martan certified that he had no problems with the law and was known to his neighbours and fellow students as a responsible member of the community. In May 2003, at the first applicant’s request, the Goyty village policeman certified that there was no reason to suspect Imran Dzhambekov of involvement with illegal armed groups.
11.  On the evening of 19 March 2002 the first four applicants and Imran Dzhambekov were at home. At about midnight the first applicant heard someone trying to open the front door. She walked to the door, which opened, and a man wearing camouflage and a mask entered and pointed a machine gun at her. He turned on the light, and then about twelve more servicemen entered the house. They were all armed and masked. They spoke Russian without any accent and the first applicant noticed blue eyes and light features through the openings in the masks. The first applicant asked them what they wanted but they told her to keep quiet. They did not explain anything to the applicants and did not produce any papers.
12.  The servicemen asked the first applicant to indicate who was in which room of the house. The first applicant pointed to the room where her husband, the second applicant, was sleeping and to the room where her elder son Imran Dzhambekov was sleeping. One serviceman went into the second applicant’s room, and about ten of them went into Imran’s room. The first applicant managed to get past the servicemen into her son’s room and saw him lying on the floor face down, his hands tied behind his back. He was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts in which he had been sleeping. The servicemen ordered him to be silent and asked the first applicant her son’s name and date of birth. Then they ordered her to fetch his passport and other documents, which she did.
13.  In the meantime the first and second applicants’ two minor children, the third and fourth applicants, started to cry and one of the soldiers took the children and the first applicant and escorted them into the second applicant’s room. Then they closed the door and pushed some furniture against it to block it from the outside. The second applicant received several blows from the servicemen in the face and in the stomach, and for some time lay on the floor in pain. When the applicants managed to open the door after about ten minutes, the servicemen had already left and taken Imran Dzhambekov with them.
14.  The first applicant ran along the street crying out her son’s name. She saw a group of servicemen walking towards two armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and one UAZ vehicle stationed on the crossroads of Sovetskaya Street and Titova Street. The second applicant meanwhile grabbed a metal rod and started to knock on a gas pipe pillar in order to wake up the neighbours.
15.  By the time the first applicant reached the crossroads, the military had boarded the vehicles and left along Titova Street. The first applicant tried to catch up with them but they turned into Pushkina Street.
16.  In the meantime, the second applicant got into his car and also tried to catch the military vehicles. At some point he picked up his wife, the first applicant, in the street and together they continued along the tracks left by the APCs until they reached the main road, from where there were two directions out of the village – to the north towards Grozny, or to the south towards Urus-Martan. Both exits were controlled by Russian military roadblocks.
17.  The first and second applicants first went to the roadblock at the exit towards Grozny. They personally knew a military serviceman who served there, Sergey from St. Petersburg, and the first applicant walked up to the roadblock and called him by name. When he came out she told him that servicemen in APCs had detained her son, and Sergey told her that no traffic had entered the village that night from their side, and that they should go to the roadblock on the road leading to Urus-Martan.
18.  The applicants then went to the house of the local policeman and asked him to go with them, but he refused. He told them to go and wait for the military vehicles at the roadblock until 6 a.m. because nobody would be allowed to travel during the curfew. They then went to the house of the head of the village administration, but did not find him.
19.  After that the first and second applicants went to the roadblock on the road leading towards Urus-Martan. There, at about 1.30 a.m., they saw two APCs and a UAZ vehicle heading towards Urus-Martan. They clearly noted the identification number of one of the APCs as 237, and a long dent and white paint marks on the back of the UAZ. Later the neighbours told them that they had noted the APC identification numbers as 237 and 246, and the UAZ number plate as “378-t”.
20.  The first and second applicants returned home and decided to continue the search in the morning, after the end of the curfew. In the street in front of their house they found Imran Dzhambekov’s one shoe and socks. They realised that he had been taken away in his shorts and T-shirt and barefoot, despite the cold.
21.  In addition to their own detailed statements, the applicants submitted witness statements from their neighbours about the events of the night of 19-20 March 2002, which corroborated their submissions. One witness testified that she had seen bruises on the second applicant’s face from the blow he had received that night. The neighbours testified that they had heard the first applicant crying out her son’s name and the knocking sound made by the second applicant, and had seen the military in two APCs and a man in underwear being put into an APC.
22.  The applicants also submitted a hand-drawn map of Goyty indicating the places to which they had referred.
23.  The applicants have had no news of Imran Dzhambekov since that night.
24.  The Government in their observations submitted in May 2006 (hereinafter “the first set of observations) did not dispute most of the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that it had been established that at about midnight on 19 March 2002 unidentified men wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with automatic weapons had entered the applicants’ house at 209 Sovetsakaya Street in Goyty and taken away Imran Dzhambekov. In their subsequent observations submitted in March 2008 after the application had been declared admissible (“the second set of observations”) they disputed certain aspects of the applicants’ version of the events with reference to the documents from the criminal investigation file (see details below).
25.  Applicants five to thirteen are relatives of Magomed Dodiyevich Soltymuradov, who was born in 1969. The fifth, seventh and twelfth applicants are his sisters, the sixth, eighth and ninth applicants his son and daughters, the tenth applicant his uncle and the eleventh applicant his cousin. The thirteenth applicant is Magomed Soltymuradov’s wife. The applicants live in two private houses located in Urus-Martan at nos. 5 and 7 Polevaya Street. Magomed Soltymuradov, his wife and three children lived at no. 5, while his uncle and cousin, the tenth and eleventh applicants, live in no. 7. In addition, there is another building in the same household where the fifth applicant lives.
26.  Magomed Soltymuradov is a trained economist. Before the hostilities started he worked in a bank. Between November 1999 and December 2001 he lived as an internally displaced person with his wife and three children in the Volgograd Region. Since his return to Urus-Martan he had been unemployed, while his wife, the thirteenth applicant, worked as a medical worker in a hospital. The applicants stated that Magomed Soltymuradov had suffered from an ulcer since childhood and required constant medical treatment.
27.  On the night of 10-11 January 2002 the thirteenth applicant was in the hospital where she was working the night shift. The sixth, eighth and ninth applicants were at home with their father, Magomed Soltymuradov. They slept through the night, and at 7 a.m. when the ninth applicant woke up and was getting ready for school, she discovered that her father was not at home and that the front door had been broken down.
28.  The eleventh applicant testified that at about 2 a.m. on 11 January 2002 she had heard noises at the front door of her house. She had gone to the door, turned on the lights and asked in Russian who was there. She had been told in Russian to open the door for a document check. When she opened the door, four armed men in camouflage uniforms and wearing masks had entered the house. They had told her to produce her passport and had searched her room, including the bed and wardrobe.
29.  They had then proceeded to search the room of the tenth applicant, her father. After about twenty minutes they had left. The tenth and eleventh applicants then heard a car leaving the junction of Polevaya Street and Chekhova Street, from the direction of the house of Magomed Soltymuradov.
30.  The fifth applicant said that in the middle of the night she had heard noises in her house but had not understood what was going on. She had looked out into the courtyard, but it was dark and she could not see anything. She had then fallen asleep.
31.  At about 7 a.m. on 11 January 2002 the ninth applicant, Madina Soltymuradova, the daughter of Magomed Soltymuradov, alerted the tenth and eleventh applicants to her father’s absence. The relatives had together inspected the fresh snow in the courtyard, where they could clearly see traces of military boots with the marking “USSR”. There were also imprints of sports shoes. The applicants estimated that there must have been about twenty people in the courtyard. The footprints led to houses nos. 5 and 7, and inside the houses. In both buildings the front doors had been broken down. Magomed Soltymuradov’s room and bed were in disorder. The applicants also realised that 4,000 roubles (RUB) they had in cash had gone missing.
32.  The applicants submitted a hand-drawn map of the neighbourhood indicating the buildings to which they referred and the traces left by the boots.
33.  The applicants have not had any news of Magomed Soltymuradov since 11 January 2002.
34.  The Government in their first set of observations did not dispute the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that it had been established that at about 3 a.m. on 11 January 2002 unidentified armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks and armed with automatic weapons had entered the household at no. 5 Polevaya Street in Urus-Martan and taken away Magomed Soltymuradov, whose whereabouts remained unknown. In their second set of observations the Government disputed the applicants’ version of their relative’s arrest, in view of the absence of evidence from the eye-witnesses that he had actually been taken away by armed men (see details below). They also noted that the applicants had not informed the investigation about the allegedly missing money.
35.  Applicants fourteen to seventeen are relatives of Rizvan Shamsudinovich Tatariyev, who was born in 1977. The fourteenth applicant is his mother, the fifteenth applicant is his daughter, the sixteenth applicant his sister and the seventeenth applicant his wife. The applicants live in two private houses joined by a common courtyard, located at 16 Bolnichnaya Street in Gekhi, Urus-Martan district. Six members of the family of Arbi T., Rizvan Tatatriyev’s brother, live in the same household. Rizvan Tatariyev worked as a construction worker. In May 2003 the Gekhi village policeman and the head of the village administration certified that there was no reason to suspect him of involvement with illegal armed groups.
36.  On the night of 22 December 2001 the applicants and other members of their family were at home sleeping. At about 3 a.m. a large group of some twenty servicemen forcibly entered the household. They were armed with hand pistols, automatic weapons and truncheons and wearing camouflage uniforms and masks. They were tall and well-built and spoke Russian without any accent. They wore head lamps, so the applicants could not see their faces clearly, but the applicants were convinced that they belonged to the special forces.
37.  The applicants were awoken by the soldiers who were already in the house and had spread out into the rooms. They first went to the room of Rizvan Tatariyev’s nephew, Ruslan T., who at that time was 21 years old. They forced him onto the floor and held him there using their feet and truncheons. One of the female relatives fetched his passport at the request of the servicemen, who inspected it and said to another: “It’s not him.”
38.  They then proceeded to the room where the fourteenth applicant and her son Rizvan Tatariyev had been sleeping. Several servicemen threw Rizvan Tatariyev onto the floor and started to kick him, before tying his hands behind his back. They inspected his driving licence and said “It’s him”. They did not ask for his passport. In the meantime the fourteenth applicant tried to get to her son, but the military pushed her away. Then they escorted Rizvan Tatariyev outside through the back door and left one by one. They warned the applicants not to go outside the house or they would shoot.
39.  The applicants submitted that, according to their neighbours’ statements, the military had arrived in an APC and two UAZ vehicles which they had parked about 80 metres from the house. When the applicants came out of the house some time after the departure of the armed men, they found the gates open, but the military had already left.
40.  In addition to their own statements and the statements by their relatives who lived in the same household, the applicants submitted a hand-drawn map of the area and of the two houses, noting the places to which they had referred in their statements. In the morning they learnt that on the same night the servicemen had detained and taken away another man in Gekhi, Sharpudi Visaitov.
41.  The applicants have not seen or heard from their relative Rizvan Tatariyev since the night of 21-22 December 2001.
42.  The Government in their first set of observations did not dispute most of the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that it had been established that at about 4 a.m. on 22 December 2001 unidentified armed men wearing masks had taken Rizvan Tatariyev away from his home, and that his whereabouts remained unknown. In the second set of observations the Government questioned the accuracy of certain details in the witness statements, including the alleged presence of the military vehicles (see below).
43.  The eighteenth and nineteenth applicants are married. They are the father and mother of Sharpudi Vakhayevich Visaitov, who was born in 1980. The applicants live with their eight children, their daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in a private house at 20 Nuradilova Street in Gekhi, Urus-Martan district. Their son Sharpudi Visaitov worked as a car mechanic. In May 2003 the Gekhi village policeman and the head of the village administration certified that there was no reason to suspect Sharpudi Visaitov of involvement with illegal armed groups.
44.  On the night of 21 to 22 December 2001 the applicants and their family members were at home sleeping. At about 4 a.m. a large group of servicemen in camouflage uniforms forcibly entered their house. They were armed with machine guns and spoke Russian without any accent. Some of them wore masks, while others did not and had typically Slavic features. They were wearing helmets with head lamps. The men did not produce identity papers or any documents to justify their actions and gave no explanation.
45.  The applicants were woken up by the servicemen who were in their room and pointing automatic rifles at them. They told them to be quiet, not to wake up the children and to produce their identity documents for checking. They also asked them how many men there were in the house and if there were any weapons, to which the eighteenth applicant replied in the negative.
46.  The men proceeded to search the rooms and inspected the passports of the occupants. In the meantime a group of soldiers remained in the courtyard, aiming their weapons at the windows.
47.  The military then ordered four of the applicants’ sons, including Sharpudi Visaitov, to go into the courtyard. They were not permitted to dress or to put on their shoes. After a while Sharpudi’s three brothers were released and returned to the house one by one. The servicemen left after about thirty minutes and took Sharpudi Visaitov with them. Before leaving they told the applicants to remain inside the house for twenty minutes because the house was being watched by snipers and they would be shot at if they disobeyed. After the departure of the servicemen the applicants realised that they had taken Sharpudi Visaitov’s passport and some family photos.
48.  In the morning of 22 December 2001 the applicants found Sharpudi Visaitov’s slippers in the courtyard and saw the imprints of bare feet in the snow, which they concluded were his. They found an opening cut in the metal wire fence around their vegetable patch, through which the servicemen had arrived and departed.
49.  Later on they discovered that on the same night another person from the village had been detained, Rizvan Tatariyev. The Tatariyevs’ house is situated in Bolnichnaya Street, which is parallel to Nuradilova Street, so that the two households border each other’s back gardens. The applicants submitted a hand-drawn map of the area and of the house.
50.  They also identified witnesses from among their neighbours who testified that they had seen a large group of servicemen in the Visaitovs’ house on that night at about 4 a.m., as well as an APC and another vehicle stationed in the neighbouring Kirova Street. These statements were annexed to their application.
51.  The applicants submitted that two days after the detention of Sharpudi Visaitov an APC and a UAZ vehicle had arrived at their house. A group of military servicemen had told them that if they did not give up their weapons they would take away other men, as they had done with Sharpudi. The applicants had no weapons to surrender, and the military searched the house and left without taking anything. They did not identify themselves or present any papers. The applicants said that the vehicles had left in the direction of Urus-Martan.
52.  The Government in their observations did not dispute most of the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that it had been established that at about 4 a.m. on 22 December 2001 unidentified armed men wearing masks had taken Sharpudi Visaitov away from his home, and that his whereabouts remained unknown.
53.  Immediately after the detention of their family members the applicants started to search for them. They coordinated their actions and conducted part of the search together. The search was primarily carried out by the mothers or sisters of the detained men. At some point in 2003 the applicants set up a non-governmental organisation called the “Society of War Victims”, which was headed by the first applicant. Part of the search was conducted on behalf of this NGO.
54.  On numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, they applied to prosecutors at various levels, to the Ministry of the Interior, the Special Envoy of the Russian President for Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic, military commanders, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the administrative authorities in Chechnya and to the media and public figures. They also personally visited detention centres, police stations, military bases and prisons in Chechnya as well as further afield in the Northern Caucasus.
55.  Besides personal visits, the applicants addressed numerous letters to the prosecutors and other authorities in which they described the circumstances in which their relatives had been detained and asked for assistance and details of the investigation. The applicants submitted copies of some of the letters they had written.
56.  The applicants received hardly any substantive information from official bodies about the investigations into the disappearances. On several occasions they were sent copies of letters forwarding their requests to different prosecution services. Below is a summary of the letters retained by the applicants and the replies they received from the authorities, and of other relevant developments.
57.  Imran Dzhambekov was detained in the early hours of 20 March 2002. Once the curfew was over at 6 a.m. his parents, the first and second applicants, took warm clothes for him and went to Urus-Martan, in the direction taken by the military vehicles that had detained him. They personally visited the Urus-Martan temporary district department of the interior (VOVD) and the military commander’s office. They were not allowed to enter the buildings, but the officers denied that Imran Dzhambekov had been detained by them.
58.  On 20 March 2002 the applicants submitted a written application to the Urus-Martan district prosecutor, complaining of the unlawful arrest of their son by military servicemen travelling in two APCs. The applicants were received by the district prosecutor, who in their presence called the VOVD, the military commander’s office and the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior special operations division no. 100 (referred to as DON-100). These services denied that their vehicles or servicemen had been involved in any operations in the village of Goyty on that night and stated that they had not detained Imran Dzhambekov.
59.  On the same day at about 2 p.m. the first and second applicants talked to officer Ya., the deputy military commander of the Urus-Martan district, who allegedly told them that a detainee “from the left side of Sovetskaya Street in Goyty” had been taken that night to the “boarding school”. The applicants said that the Urus-Martan VOVD was located in the premises of the former boarding school.
60.  Also on 20 March 2002, while standing in front of the gates of the VOVD, the applicants noticed a UAZ vehicle which they identified by white paint marks and a dent on the back as the vehicle involved in their son’s arrest. They also noted the vehicle’s number plates.
61.  On 21 March 2002 the applicants returned to Urus-Martan. They said that they were informed by an officer of the military commander’s office that their son was being held for questioning in the VOVD, and would be released in a day or two.
62.  On 23 March 2002 the applicants, through a middleman, contacted the chief of staff of the district military commander’s office A., who told them that they should look for their son at Khankala (the main Russian military base in Chechnya) and that he had been in the custody of the Regional Department for Combating Organised Crime (RUBOP). On the same day the second applicant spoke to a police detective from the VOVD, Alik Kh., who confirmed that the UAZ vehicle belonged to the head of the VOVD and advised him to look for his son at the RUBOP branch in Grozny. In early April an officer at the Urus-Martan district military commander’s office also told the first and second applicants that their son had been detained by the Grozny branch of RUBOP.
63.  At about 10 a.m. on 24 March 2002 the second applicant spoke to the head of the criminal investigation department of the VOVD, K., in the courtyard of the VOVD building. The second applicant showed him the UAZ vehicle, but the officer said that the car could have been taken without the VOVD’s knowledge; he again denied any knowledge of Imran Dzhambekov’s detention.
64.  On 25 March 2002 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office (“the district prosecutor’s office”) opened criminal investigation file no. 61058 into the kidnapping of Imran Dzhambekov. On the same day the first applicant communicated all the known details of the APCs and the UAZ vehicle to the prosecutor’s office.
65.  At the end of March 2002 the first applicant talked to investigator Sergey L. from the district prosecutor’s office, who was in charge of her son’s case. He told her that he could not question anyone in the military commander’s office but that he had carried out checks and established that the APCs with the said numbers belonged to the district military commander’s office and the UAZ to the VOVD. He also said that when he had tried to put some questions to a serviceman from the commander’s office he had been threatened. The same investigator later told the applicants that he had visited the VOVD personally and had not found Imran Dzhambekov, but “that there were only four cells there to which he had been given access”.
66.  The applicants said that on 15 April 2002 the second applicant had again met the head of the criminal investigation department of the VOVD, K., at the VOVD who had denied that Imran Dzhambekov had ever been detained there. As proof, the officer showed the second applicant the log of detainees. The second applicant noted the name “Dzhanashvili” and suggested that it could have been his son, but that his name had been deliberately misspelled. The officer said that he could not show him that man either and refused to assist the applicants any further.
67.  The first and second applicants also explained that they had attempted to find a middleman among the military servicemen in order to pay for their son’s release, but had been told that it was impossible. Some time in April the applicants had also contacted a man who worked in Khankala who told them that Imran Dzhambekov had allegedly been detained there, that he had been charged with crimes related to terrorism and that he had been transferred to Rostov-on-Don on 18 or 24 April with a group of other detainees.
68.  On 16 May 2002 the first applicant had applied in person to the acting Chechnya Prosecutor, Mr Chernov, who invited her to a meeting in his office with a senior military prosecutor, Mr Kolomeyets. The first applicant recounted the story of her son’s detention to both men, who assured her that, since details such as the APC and the UAZ numbers were known, the case would certainly be resolved. The military prosecutor assured the applicant that he too would take the case under his personal supervision.
69.  On 24 May 2002 the first applicant wrote to the head of the Urus-Martan VOVD and asked him to investigate her son’s disappearance and the involvement of the two APCs and the UAZ vehicle, the numbers and other details of which she indicated.
70.  On 28 May 2002 the first applicant was granted victim status in the criminal investigation into her son’s abduction.
71.  On 10 June 2002 the first applicant again requested the Chechnya Prosecutor to organise an effective investigation into her son’s abduction. She stated in her letter the known details of the vehicles that had taken him away and requested that it be established to which authority they belonged.
72.  On 11 June 2002 the district prosecutor’s office replied to the applicants that all the necessary investigative measures had been carried out, but had not led to the identification of the culprits.
73.  On 22 June 2002 the head of the Urus-Martan district department of the interior (ROVD) informed the first applicant that their office had opened a search file on her missing son and that she would be informed of the results.
74.  On 9 July 2002 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office informed the first applicant that their office had examined the criminal investigation file concerning her son’s abduction, quashed the decision to adjourn the criminal investigation and forwarded the case for further investigation to the district prosecutor’s office.
75.  On 2 September 2002 the first applicant wrote a letter to the Urus-Martan military commander’s office giving details of her son’s abduction and requested an investigation to find out his whereabouts.
76.  On 23 January 2003 the Chechnya department of the FSB informed the first applicant that they had no information regarding Imran Dzhambekov and that he was not suspected of participation in illegal activities. Her letter was forwarded to the military prosecutor of the United Group Alignment (UGA) in the Northern Caucasus.
77.  On 31 January 2003 the military prosecutor of the UGA forwarded the first applicant’s letter to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102, based in Khankala, and instructed him to verify whether the UAZ vehicle with the number plate indicated by the applicant belonged to the VOVD of Urus-Martan.
78.  On 3 February 2003 the district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that the investigation of criminal case no. 61058 into her son’s abduction had been adjourned on 25 May 2002 owing to a failure to identify the culprits, and had been reopened on 30 January 2003.
79.  On 14 February 2003 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office informed the first applicant that the investigation in criminal case no. 61058 had been resumed on 30 January 2003 and that it was checking the information concerning the APCs and the UAZ vehicle communicated by her.
80.  On 18 February 2003 the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 responded to the first applicant, informing her that, as with her previous requests, this was not a matter for the military prosecutor’s office. The letter further informed her that the criminal investigation into her son’s abduction would only be transferred from the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office to the military prosecutor’s office if it was established that military servicemen where implicated in the crime.
81.  On 17 March 2003 the Prosecutor General’s Office wrote to a member of the State Duma, Mr Nikitin, in reply to his enquiry concerning missing persons and crimes against civilians in Chechnya. It stated that 1,250 criminal investigation files had been opened in respect of 1,802 kidnapped or missing persons. In 2002 alone 565 criminal cases had been opened in respect of 738 missing persons. 559 persons had been found. The letter listed a number of steps taken by the prosecutor’s office in order to prevent disappearances and to effectively investigate such cases, including the issue of a number of instructions and the holding of coordination meetings between various bodies. The letter also contained a list of missing persons, which included Imran Dzhambekov, Magomed Soltymuradov, Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov, and stated that criminal investigations were pending into each of those cases. It added that the involvement of servicemen from the Ministry of Defence or Ministry of the Interior had not been established in any of the cases, and the investigation into all the cases had been adjourned. Measures to solve the crimes were continuing. On 3 April 2003 Mr Nikitin forwarded the Prosecutor General’s Office’s response to the first applicant for information.
82.  On 8 April 2003 the first applicant submitted applications to the Minister of the Interior and to the Speakers of the two Chambers of the Federal Assembly, asking them to take into account the situation of the “disappeared” when working on a draft document on the granting of amnesties in respect of events in Chechnya.
83.  On 17 April 2003 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office wrote to the first applicant in response to her complaint. It stated that following her son’s kidnapping by unknown persons wearing camouflage on 20 March 2002, criminal case no. 61058 had been opened on 25 March 2002 by the district prosecutor’s office under Article 126, part 2 of the Criminal Code. On 25 May 2002 the investigation had been adjourned owing to a failure to identify the culprits. On 30 January 2003 the investigation had been reopened and accepted for further examination by an investigator from the district prosecutor’s office. During this additional investigation the first applicant had been granted victim status and the second applicant and other witnesses had been questioned about the circumstances of the abduction. The letter further stated that the investigation had forwarded requests for information to the various military and police authorities in order to identify APCs nos. 237 and 246 and the UAZ vehicle with registration number 378-02 that had been involved in the abduction. Additional requests for information had been forwarded to the Orenburg Region. The letter concluded that, unfortunately, these investigative steps had not led to the identification of the culprits or to the establishment of Imran Dzhambekov’s whereabouts. The investigation had again been adjourned, but attempts to solve the crime were continuing.
84.  On 18 April 2003 the first applicant, acting in her capacity as the head of the NGO “Society of War Victims”, forwarded a list of missing persons who had disappeared following their detention by the “power structures” in the Urus-Martan district to the Urus-Martan ROVD and asked for its assistance in finding them.
85.  On 21 April 2003 the military prosecutor of the UGA informed the applicants that, according to the information obtained from the military and police authorities of the Urus-Martan district, APCs with the identification numbers 237 and 246 and the UAZ vehicle with registration number R378-02 did not belong to any of these authorities. No special operations had been carried out in Goyty on the night of 19-20 March 2002 and Mr Dzhambekov had not been detained by servicemen from the federal forces. The letter advised the first applicant to direct further queries to the district prosecutor’s office in charge of the case.
86.  On 22 April 2003 the SRJI, acting on the first applicant’s behalf, wrote to the district prosecutor and the Chechnya Prosecutor asking them to provide an update of the criminal investigation into Mr Dzhambekov’s disappearance, including the results of the checks concerning the number plates of the vehicles involved.
87.  On 29 April 2003 the head of the Urus-Martan district administration wrote to the first applicant and informed her that the district administration was struggling to cope with the number of “enforced disappearances”. The letter stated that between 1 January and 22 April 2003 alone 27 cases of “disappearances” had been recorded in the district, and that as a result of the efforts made by the authorities, four persons had been released and three bodies found.
88.  On 10 June 2003 the district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that on 10 June 2003 their office had reopened the investigation into her son’s abduction.
89.  On 31 July 2003 and 20 August 2003 the second applicant wrote to the Chechnya Prosecutor. He restated the known circumstances of his son’s detention on 20 March 2002, including the details of the vehicles involved. He also referred to the information collected by him and his wife in the weeks following the abduction, according to which the APCs had passed through the military checkpoints without any problems and the UAZ vehicle belonged to the head of the Urus-Martan VOVD. He further complained that when he had been questioned on 31 January 2003 by an investigator from the district prosecutor’s office, the investigator had refused to record in the minutes of the interview full information about the number plates of the vehicles involved. The second applicant said that when he had subsequently accessed the minutes he had observed that the investigator had noted the APC number as “23”, even though he had given the number as “237”, and had failed to record the number plates of the UAZ. The second applicant requested the prosecutor to resume the investigation of criminal case no. 61068 and to take the action necessary to identify the servicemen responsible, as well as to transfer the case for investigation to the military prosecutor’s office in view of the involvement of military servicemen in the abduction.
90.  On 15 September 2003 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office informed the second applicant that following his complaint the decision of 10 July 2003 to adjourn the investigation had been reversed and on 12 September 2003 the investigation had been resumed by the district prosecutor’s office.
91.  It appears that the investigation was adjourned again on 12 October 2003.
92.  In January 2004 several applicants, including the first applicant, joined the open letter to President Putin signed by 131 relatives of persons who had “disappeared” in Chechnya. They referred to the information that in most known cases the disappeared persons had been taken away by State agents, judging from the use of military vehicles and their ability to travel unhindered in groups through military and security roadblocks. They deplored the absence of any official information about their family members following such detention and asked the President to ensure that investigations be conducted into such crimes.
93.  At some point the applicants requested the district prosecutor’s office to grant them access to the case file as victims in the proceedings. On 15 April 2004 the district prosecutor’s office rejected the first applicant’s request for access to the file, on the ground that the investigation was pending.
94.  The applicants appealed against that refusal to the district court, and on 6 August 2004 the Urus-Martan Town Court allowed in part the first applicant’s complaint against the district prosecutor’s office based on the latter’s failure to take effective steps to investigate her son’s abduction. The Town Court ordered the district prosecutor’s office to resume the investigation and to take a number of investigative measures that had been requested by the applicants, such as questioning the former head of the Urus-Martan VOVD and other servicemen from that office named by the applicants, and identifying the detainee referred to as “Dzhanashvili” who had been at the VOVD in March 2002. The court refused to grant the applicants access to the case file, stating that that right was accorded to victims only on completion of the investigation, not when the proceedings were adjourned. On 24 August 2004 the Chechnya Supreme Court upheld that decision.
95.  On 12 October 2005 the district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that the investigation had been resumed on 5 October 2005.
96.  The first applicant said that since the abduction of her son her health had deteriorated and that she suffered from a number of chronic illnesses that were made worse by the stress she was under.
97.  Magomed Soltymuradov disappeared from his house on the night of 10 to 11 January 2002. The applicants submitted that he had been detained by the same military servicemen who had searched the neighbouring house occupied by his relatives, the tenth and eleventh applicants.
98.  At about 9 a.m. on 11 January 2002 the fifth and tenth applicants, Magomed Soltymuradov’s sister and uncle, applied in person to the district prosecutor’s office, the district administration and the military commander’s office. On the same day they submitted to these offices written applications stating the circumstances of Mr Soltymuradov’s detention and asking for assistance in finding him. They submitted their application in person to the district prosecutor, who together with the applicants went to the Urus-Martan VOVD. When the prosecutor came out of the VOVD building he told the applicants that “the local guys did not do this, we do not work at night. These must be GRU [the Army’s Main Intelligence Service] or the FSB.” The prosecutor advised the applicants to look for Mr Soltymuradov at the military commander’s office or through the administration.
99.  On 11 January 2002 the head of the district administration forwarded the applicants’ complaint to the district military commander and asked him to find out the reasons for Mr Soltymuradov’s detention and obtain his release.
100.  Throughout the following week Magomed Soltymuradov’s relatives maintained a vigil in front of the district prosecutor’s office, hoping that he would be released. The applicants also personally contacted several officials in the district administration and the former head of the Grozny administration, Vahid M., who allegedly had good contacts among the military. They did not obtain any information about their missing relative.
101.  On 17 January 2002 the fifth applicant again wrote to the district military commander. She stated the circumstances of her brother’s detention by military servicemen and asked for the commander’s assistance in obtaining his release.
102.  On 21 January 2002 the seventh applicant, Magomed Sotymuradov’s other sister, wrote to the district prosecutor, the military commander, the head of the VOVD, the Memorial Human Rights Centre and the Special Envoy of the Russian President for Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic. In her letter she stated the known circumstances of her brother’s detention, referred to his medical problems and stated that since his arrest his relatives had received no information whatsoever about the reasons for his detention or the authority which had carried it out. She asked for assistance in finding her brother.
103.  On 25 January 2002 the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation no. 62004 into the abduction of Magomed Soltymuradov by persons unknown. On the same day the fifth applicant was granted victim status in the criminal investigation concerning her brother’s abduction.
104.  On 27 January 2002 the fifth applicant wrote to the head of the Chechnya department of the FSB and asked for his assistance in finding her brother and obtaining his release. The letter was co-signed by dozens of their neighbours.
105.  On 22 March 2002 the district prosecutor replied to the fifth applicant that the criminal case pending with that office concerning her brother’s abduction had failed to identify the culprits.
106.  On 4 April 2002 the applicants received a handwritten note requiring “the relatives of Magomed Soltymuradov to come to the VOVD boarding school building at 3 p.m. on 5 April 2002” and to report to Alik Kh.
107.  On 5 April 2002 the fifth, seventh and twelfth applicants, sisters of the missing man, went to the VOVD. At the entrance they were met by an operational detective, Alik Kh., who confirmed that he had sent the note, and invited only the fifth applicant to come inside. There he took her into a room with another officer of the VOVD and told the fifth applicant that her brother had been killed in Grozny on 5 January 2002. The fifth applicant was upset and confused by this statement, because her brother had only been detained on 11 January 2002. She asked if they had any papers confirming his death and if they could obtain the body for burial, but the officers said that they could not do anything because the case was under investigation. They asked her questions about a certain K. from the village of Gekhi, but the fifth applicant said that she did not know anyone from that village.
108.  After that conversation, on 5 and 6 April 2002, the fifth applicant tried to find out further news from the district prosecutor’s office, but the investigator responsible for the case was not available.
109.  On 8 April 2002 the fifth applicant talked to an officer at the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office who told her that her brother was not listed among those killed.
110.  In April 2002 the fifth applicant asked other relatives of missing persons who regularly gathered in front of the VOVD building if they knew K. from Gekhi, about whom she had been questioned in the VOVD. She met the brothers of K., who was also missing, and they told her that they in turn had been questioned about Mr Soltymuradov.
111.  On 17 April 2002 the district prosecutor’s office informed the fifth applicant that on 25 January 2002 it had opened criminal case no. 61004.
112.  On 4 June 2002 the fifth applicant applied to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102. She stated the circumstances of Mr Soltymuradov’s arrest and complained that the district prosecutor’s office had made no progress in its investigation and had not informed the relatives about the proceedings. She asked the military prosecutor to carry out an investigation into her brother’s arrest.
113.  On 5 June 2002 the fifth applicant sent a similar letter to the Chechnya Prosecutor. She also asked him to ensure that she was informed about progress in the proceedings.
114.  On 24 June 2002 the acting district military commander informed the fifth applicant that they had no information about the whereabouts of Magomed Soltymuradov.
115.  On 20 September 2002 the military prosecutor of the Northern Caucasus military circuit forwarded the fifth applicant’s complaint to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 and instructed him to check the facts and to give an answer to the applicant.
116.  On 27 September 2002 the fifth applicant wrote to the head of the Chechnya department of the FSB and requested him to provide her with information about her brother, who had allegedly been detained by officers from that service.
117.  On 7 October 2002 the Urus-Martan district department of the FSB wrote to the fifth applicant to say that they had no information about the detention or whereabouts of Magomed Soltymuradov.
118.  On 14 October 2002 the district prosecutor’s office informed the fifth applicant that on 26 March 2002 the investigation in criminal case file no. 61004 had been suspended owing to a failure to identify the culprits. She was informed of her right to appeal.
119.  On 17 October 2002 the fifth applicant appealed against the decision to adjourn the criminal investigation to the Urus-Martan District Court. She requested the court to quash the decision and to require the investigators to carry out a thorough investigation into her brother’s disappearance.
120.  On 8 January 2003 the district prosecutor’s office wrote in response to the fifth applicant’s complaint, stating that the criminal investigation in case no. 61004 had thus far failed to establish Magomed Soltymuradov’s whereabouts or to identify his abductors. The applicant was invited to submit any relevant information which came into her possession to that office.
121.  On 28 March 2003 the fifth applicant appealed to the Supreme Court of Chechnya against the Urus-Martan District Court’s failure to act. She stated that despite her numerous applications in person to that court no action had been taken in response to her complaint of 17 October 2002 concerning the ineffectiveness of the criminal investigation. On 16 April 2003 the Supreme Court referred the complaint back to the Urus-Martan District Court and instructed it to take appropriate steps.
122.  The thirteenth applicant, the wife of Magomed Soltymuradov, applied to the district court for an order declaring her husband a missing person. On 3 April 2003 the Urus-Martan District Court granted her request and declared him a missing person with effect from 10 January 2002. The court took into account the statements of the thirteenth applicant and two neighbours who testified that on the night of 10 to 11 January 2002 her husband had been taken away by unknown persons and had not been seen since. The criminal investigation into the abduction had produced no results. The decision was not appealed against and became final on 13 April 2003. On the same day the court granted the thirteenth applicant’s request to certify Magomed Soltymuradov’s paternity of her three children, for the purposes of obtaining social-security benefits.
123.  On 24 April 2003 the fifth applicant again complained to the civil and military prosecutors of Chechnya. She restated the known facts of her brother’s abduction and of the investigation, in particular referring to the questions put to her by the VOVD officers in April 2002 about K. and the questions K.’s relatives had been asked about her brother. She insisted that her brother could only have been detained by the authorities and asked the prosecutor to ensure an effective investigation.
124.  On 5 August 2003 the fifth applicant complained to the Chechnya Prosecutor and requested him to reopen the investigation, to take steps aimed at finding her brother and to identify the perpetrators among the State structures.
125.  On 1 September 2003 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office replied to the fifth applicant that the investigation into her brother’s abduction had been reopened on 21 August 2003 and that she could obtain news about the ongoing investigation at the district prosecutor’s office.
126.  On 5 January and 19 April 2004 the fifth applicant asked the district prosecutor’s office to take a number of investigative steps and to inform her of the progress of the investigation.
127.  On 6 May 2004 the district prosecutor’s office informed the fifth applicant that the investigation was pending with that office and that she would be informed if her brother’s whereabouts were established.
128.  On 13 May 2004 the fifth applicant again wrote to the district prosecutor’s office. She claimed that the investigation had not made any genuine attempt to find her brother or identify the persons who had abducted him. She asked the prosecutor’s office to visit their house, to question all the relatives and neighbours who had been eye-witnesses to Magomed Soltymuradov’s abduction and could describe the persons and vehicles involved, to question the officers of the Urus-Martan VOVD who had information about her brother and K. in April 2002 and the servicemen of the Urus-Martan military commander’s office who could authorise the movement of military personnel and vehicles in the district.
129.  On 5 July 2004, in response to a request from the investigator of the district prosecutor’s office in charge of criminal case no. 61004, the NGO Memorial stated that, according to their figures, between December 1999 and March 2004, 205 residents of the Urus-Martan district had “disappeared”. The NGO stressed that their information was not complete and that in every such case the information had been transferred to the law-enforcement bodies.
130.  On 26 November 2004 the fifth applicant again asked the district prosecutor’s office to inform her about progress in the investigation of her brother’s abduction and to allow her access to the case file.
131.  On 2 January 2005 the district prosecutor’s office informed the fifth applicant that the investigation had been suspended on the same day for failure to identify the culprits. The fifth applicant was also informed of her right to appeal.
132.  In February 2004 several applicants, including the fifth applicant, joined the open letter to the then President of Chechnya Mr Alkhanov, signed by 126 relatives of persons who had “disappeared” in Chechnya. They referred to the information that in most known cases the disappeared persons had been taken away by State agents, judging from the use of military vehicles and the ability of the groups to travel unhindered through military and security roadblocks. They deplored the absence of any official information about their family members following such detention and asked the President to ensure that investigations be conducted into such crimes.
133.  Rizvan Tatariyev was apprehended in his house in the early hours of 22 December 2001. In the morning of 22 December 2001 his relatives learned that on the same night another man, Sharpudi Visaitov, had been detained in their village of Gekhi. The fourteenth applicant, Rizvan Tatariyev’s mother, together with the parents of Sharpudi Visaitov, went to Urus-Martan and personally visited the district prosecutor, the military commander’s office and the head of the district administration. On the same day the fourteenth applicant submitted two written statements to the district prosecutor, stating the circumstances of her son’s detention and asking him to help establish his whereabouts. The relatives did not receive any news about the detainees.
134.  On 2 January 2002 the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation file no. 25180 concerning the kidnapping of Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov. The applicants submitted that since that date and until the communication of the complaint to the Government, no one from the investigation had visited their homes or questioned any family members or neighbours of Rizvan Tatariyev or Sharpudi Visaitov.
135.  On 3 January 2002 the fourteenth applicant wrote to the head of the district administration and asked him to help her find her son.
136.  On 2 March 2002 the investigator of the district prosecutor’s office adjourned the investigation of criminal case no. 25180 for failure to identify the culprits. The investigation had established that on 22 December 2001 unidentified persons wearing military-type camouflage uniforms and masks had apprehended Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov in their homes and taken them away in an unknown direction.
137.  On 8 April 2002 the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 wrote to the fourteenth applicant, stating that there were no grounds for suspecting the involvement of servicemen from the Ministry of Defence, the FSB or the Interior Troops of the Ministry of the Interior in the abduction of her son. The supporting documents were forwarded to the district prosecutor’s office.
138.  On 25 May 2002 the fourteenth applicant sent a letter to the Urus-Martan military commander asking for his help in finding her son.
139.  On 30 June 2002 the Chechnya department of the FSB informed the fourteenth applicant that the facts stated in her application did not fall within the competence of the FSB.
140.  On 29 August 2002 the district military commander replied to the fourteenth applicant that their office had no information about her son. He further stated that his office had no competence to charge anyone with a crime and that it would continue to make every effort to establish the son’s whereabouts.
141.  On 3 September 2002 the office of the military prosecutor of the Northern Caucasus military circuit forwarded the applicant’s complaint to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 in Khankala and instructed him to verify the facts and sent an answer to the applicant.
142.  On 13 November 2002 the district prosecutor’s office issued a notice to the district social-security service confirming that Rizvan Tatariyev had been abducted on 21 December 2001 in Urus-Martan and that his whereabouts remained unknown, despite a pending investigation.
143.  On 25 February 2003 the fourteenth applicant was granted victim status in criminal investigation no. 25180 concerning the abduction of Rizvan Tatariyev by unknown armed persons in military uniform.
144.  On 11 June 2003 the district prosecutor’s office reopened the criminal investigation into Rizvan Tatariyev’s abduction and informed the fourteenth applicant accordingly.
145.  On 17 June 2003 the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office informed the fourteenth applicant that on 2 March 2002 criminal investigation no. 25180 into her son’s abduction had been adjourned for failure to identify the culprits. On 10 June 2003 the district prosecutor had quashed that decision as unlawful and forwarded the case for additional investigation.
146.  On 11 July 2003 the district prosecutor’s office again adjourned the investigation and informed the fourteenth applicant of her right to appeal.
147.  In April 2004 the fourteenth applicant asked the Urus-Martan military commander to help find her son and establish the reasons for his detention following his arrest by State servicemen at his own house on 22 December 2001.
148.  On 8 December 2005 the head of the criminal police department of the Urus-Martan ROVD informed the fourteenth applicant that they had no information about any special operation on 22 December 2001 or the detention of her son by the military or police. He also stated that requests for information had been sent to all the district departments of the interior in Chechnya and further afield in the region, as well as to the main information centre of the Ministry of the Interior.
149.  In September 2006 several applicants, including the fourteenth applicant, joined an open letter to the Chairman of the Parliament of Chechnya, signed by more than a hundred relatives of persons who had “disappeared” in Chechnya. They referred to information that in most known cases the disappeared persons had been taken away by State agents. They deplored the absence of any official information about their family members following their detention and asked the Chairman to ensure that investigations be conducted into such crimes.
150.  Sharpudi Visaitov was apprehended in his house in the early hours of 22 December 2001. In the morning of 22 December 2001 the eighteenth and nineteenth applicants (Sharpudi Visaitov’s father and mother) learned that on the same night another man, Rizvan Tatariyev, had been detained in Gekhi. Together with the parents of Tatariyev they went to Urus-Martan and personally visited the local prosecutor, the military commander’s office and the head of the district administration, stating the circumstances of their sons’ detention and asking them to help establish their whereabouts. They did not receive any news about the detainees (see above).
151.  On 24 December 2001 the eighteenth applicant wrote to the district prosecutor and the military commander and asked them about the reasons for his son’s detention.
152.  On 2 January 2002 the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation no. 25180 into the abduction of Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov by persons unknown. The applicants submitted that despite the opening of the investigation, until the communication to the Government of their complaint to the European Court no one conducting the investigation had visited their homes or questioned any family members or neighbours of theirs or of Rizvan Tatariyev.
153.  On 8 April 2002 the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 replied to the eighteenth applicant that it had been established that no servicemen from the Ministry of Defence or the Interior Troops of the Ministry of the Interior had participated in the actions of which he had complained. The complaint had therefore been forwarded to the district prosecutor’s office.
154.  On 21 May 2002 the nineteenth applicant wrote to the district military commander and asked for assistance in finding her son, who had been taken away by unknown armed servicemen.
155.  On 28 February 2003 the nineteenth applicant was granted victim status in criminal investigation no. 25180 concerning the abduction of Sharpudi Visaitov.
156.  On 7 December 2004 the nineteenth applicant wrote to the district prosecutor’s office. She reiterated the available information about her son’s arrest and insisted that the detention had been carried out by State servicemen. She asked the prosecutor to take a number of steps in order to identify the agency, vehicles and servicemen involved in the arrest and thus to establish the whereabouts of her son. She also asked him to inform her of progress in the investigation.
157.  The nineteenth applicant stated that since her son’s disappearance her health had deteriorated significantly. She suffered from a number of chronic diseases of the heart and respiratory system and from hypertension, and in August and September 2001 had twice been taken to hospital. In September 2001 she has been advised to undergo surgical treatment in Moscow, but had not done so.
158.  The applicants were thus informed that three criminal investigation files had been opened by the district prosecutor’s office in respect of the kidnappings of their relatives: file no. 61068 opened on 25 March 2002 in respect of Imran Dzhambekov, file no. 62004 opened on 25 January 2002 in respect of Magomed Soltymuradov, and file no. 25180 opened on 2 January 2002 concerning the abduction of Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov. These proceedings were adjourned and reopened several times, but produced no tangible results.
159.  The first applicant was granted victim status on 28 May 2002 in criminal investigation no. 61068 into her son’s abduction. On 25 January 2002 the fifth applicant was granted victim status in criminal investigation no. 62004 concerning her brother’s abduction. On 25 February 2003 the fourteenth applicant and on 28 February 2003 the nineteenth applicant were granted victim status in criminal investigation file no. 25180 concerning the abduction of their sons. It appears that no other relatives of the missing men were granted victim status in the proceedings, and very few persons among the relatives and neighbours – except for those granted victim status – were questioned, at least until the communication of the complaints to the respondent Government.
160.  In response to requests by the Court, the Government disclosed a number of documents from criminal files nos. 61068, 62004 and 25180. After the case had been declared admissible, they provided 159 pages of documents from the three investigation files, including decisions to open, to suspend and resume the investigations and to grant victim status, letters to the relatives informing them of the adjournment and reopening of the proceedings and various witness statements. Relying on information obtained from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that the disclosure of the remaining documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses or other participants in the criminal proceedings.
161.  These documents, as well as the Government’s submissions on the progress of the investigation can be summarised as follows.
162.  On 20 March 2002 the first applicant submitted a written application to the district prosecutor, asking him to investigate and find her son, who had been taken away that night by a group of military servicemen in two APCs. The first applicant indicated that she had not seen the hull numbers of the APCs.
163.  On 25 March 2002 the Urus-Martan ROVD opened a search file in respect of Imran Dzhambekov, who had been taken from his house by unknown armed men.
164.  On 25 March 2002 the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation no. 61058 into the kidnapping of Imran Dzhambekov. According to a document issued on 20 April 2006 by the acting district prosecutor, the main aspect of the crime examined by the investigation was the involvement of “power structures and military units” (“силовых структур и воинских подразделений»).
165.  On 25 March 2002 the first applicant was questioned as a witness. The Government submitted a copy of her witness statement, in which she stated that at about midnight on 19 March 2002 a group of about ten or twelve armed and masked men wearing camouflage uniforms, had entered their house. The men had hit her husband, locked her in a room with her younger daughter and taken her son to two APCs which had been stationed not far from the house. She had followed the APCs on foot, while her husband had taken his car and followed the two APCs to the road leading towards Urus-Martan. He had noted their identification numbers as 237 and 246; he had also noted the figures “02” on the number plates of a UAZ vehicle which had accompanied the APCs. The first applicant had reached the roadblock situated at the exit of the village on foot, where she had been told that the vehicles had not used that road.
166.  On 31 January 2003 the first applicant was granted victim status in the investigation and questioned. She was questioned again on 20 June 2003 and on 18 October 2005. On 20 June 2003 she explained that on 17 April 2002 she and her husband had travelled to the Khankala military base and talked to man called “Akhmed” who worked there. On 11 May 2002 “Akhmed” had told them that their son had been transferred to Rostov-on-Don upon charges of terrorism. On 18 October 2005 she again submitted details of her son’s detention. She referred to the APCs’ hull numbers which she had noted as 237 and 246, and the UAZ vehicle as “R 378 02”. She also specified that the intruders had talked between themselves in unaccented Russian and that she had seen blue eyes and light features in the openings of the masks and concluded that they were Russian. She described the discussion with the police detective Alik Kh. who had confirmed that the UAZ vehicle belonged to the Urus-Martan VOVD and that he was not aware where it had been taken on the night of 19 March 2002.
167.  The second applicant was questioned on 31 January 2003. According to his statement submitted by the Government, on the night of 19 March 2002 he had been awoken by men dressed in blue camouflage uniforms, who had entered their house and hit the second applicant several times in the face and torso. They had then locked his wife and two younger children in the room, having blocked the door with a sofa. Once the applicants had managed to get outside, they realised that their eldest son Imran had been taken away. After the abductors had left, the second applicant had run into the street and seen a group of men walking away, but had not at that time seen the APCs and vehicles. His wife, the first applicant, had pursued the men on foot, while he had taken his car and followed two APCs and the UAZ vehicle along Lenina Street towards the exit to Urus-Martan. He had then decided to go to the head of the local administration in order to ask him to notify the military at the roadblock, but had not managed to find him. The guards at the house had told him that they had no radios and could not contact the roadblock. He had then gone to the house of the local policeman, who told him to wait at the roadblock leading to Goyty, at the eastern side of the village. At about 2 a.m. on the same night he had seen the same APCs and UAZ moving towards Urus-Martan. He noted the two last digits of the identification number of one of the APCs as “23” and the number plate of the UAZ vehicle as “R-378 02”. The second applicant further stated that he had later seen the UAZ in the courtyard of the Urus-Martan VOVD. Police detective Alik Kh. from the VOVD had informed him that his son had probably been arrested by the RUBOP and taken to Khankala. The same information had been given to him by Lieutenant-Colonel G. who was the deputy military commander of the Urus-Martan district.
168.  The second applicant was further questioned on 26 October 2005. He again recounted the events of the night of 19 to 20 March 2002, and repeated the details about the number plate of the UAZ vehicle and the hull numbers of two APCs. He also referred to the discussion with Alik Kh. who had confirmed that the vehicle had been used on the night in question in Goyty. The second applicant had again mentioned the discussion he had had with the officer from the military commander’s office, G., who had told him to look for his son in Khankala, at the RUBOP. Finally, he had provided a detailed physical description of his son and of the clothes he had been wearing on the night of abduction.
169.  The Government also submitted four witness statements by the Dzhambekovs’ neighbours which had been taken in December 2005. The neighbours confirmed that they had heard noises and screaming in their neighbours’ courtyard on the night of Imran Dzhambekov’s kidnapping, but said that they had not seen the kidnappers or any vehicles.
170.  The Government also furnished the transcripts of the questioning of various officials by the investigators as follows. On 27 February 2003 the investigators questioned officer Ya., deputy head of the district military command, who denied that he had known Imran Dzhambekov or had any information about his abduction. He also stated that Lieutenant-Colonel G. had left Urus-Martan in the autumn of 2002.
171.  In December 2005 the deputy head of the Urus-Martan district administration stated that the Dzhambekov family had never informed their office of their son’s kidnapping and that he had no information about any special operations having taken place in Goyty on 20 March 2002.
172.  In February 2006 the then head of the Goyty village administration confirmed that in March 2002 he had met the first applicant who had complained about the disappearance of her son. He had no further information about the case.
173.  On 2 December 2005 an investigator had inspected the scene of the crime at the Dzhambekovs’ house.
174.  The Government also submitted copies of several requests for information that had been sent by those investigating Imran Dzhambekov’s disappearance to various State bodies. On 31 January 2003 and 12 February 2003 the investigators asked the Urus-Martan military commander’s office whether on 19 and 20 March 2002 “sweeping operations” had been carried out in Goyty, whether Imran Dzhambekov had been detained during such operations and where he had been taken. They further asked the military commander’s office to establish the provenance of the APCs with hull numbers 237 and 246 and the UAZ vehicle with number plate “R 378 02” and to disclose information about officer G. so that he could be questioned as a witness. In its response, the military commander’s office denied all knowledge of any of these points. In March 2003 it informed the investigators that it had no information about the alleged involvement of Imran Dzhambekov in illegal armed groups. In May 2003 the military commander also informed the investigators that his office had been established in December 2002, that it used a different form of numbering for its APCs and that it had no number plates with the regional plate suffix “02”, since it used the regional number “15”.
175.  According to other documents submitted by the Government, on 18 February 2003 the Chechnya department of the FSB had informed the investigators that it had no information relevant to the case. The local bodies of the Ministry of the Interior and the prosecutors’ offices had never detained Imran Dzhambekov and had carried out no criminal investigation in respect of him. He had not been brought to any of the remand centres in the Southern Federal Circuit.
176.  The Government submitted that the statements made by the first and the second applicants to the investigators were mutually contradictory and inconsistent with their statements submitted to the Court. The Government thus questioned their credibility and veracity. They further maintained that the applicants’ assertion that they had noted the numbers of the military vehicles was irrelevant, because they had seen the APCs at the roadblock one and a half hours after the kidnapping of their son, so that there were no grounds for suspecting that Imran Dzhambekov had been transported in them.
177.  The decisions to adjourn the investigation submitted by the Government established that the abductors had used two APCs with the identification numbers 237 and 246 and a khaki-coloured UAZ-469 with the number plate “R 378 02”. The provenance of these vehicles had not been established.
178.  The documents and additional information submitted by the Government indicate that between March 2002 and June 2006 the investigation was adjourned on seven occasions, and each time reopened upon the orders of supervising prosecutors on account of the “incomplete nature of the investigative measures”.
179.  On 11 January 2002 the fifth applicant wrote to the district prosecutor’s office and asked for help in finding her brother, who had been taken away during the night by unknown armed men.
180.  On 18 January 2002 the fifth applicant submitted a complaint to the Chechnya Prosecutor’s office, stating that at about 3 a.m. on 11 January 2002 her brother Magomed Soltymuradov had been taken away by unidentified servicemen. She referred to the written complaints her family had submitted on 11 January 2002 to the district prosecutor’s office and the district administration, which had produced no results.
181.  Criminal investigation file no. 61004 was opened by the district prosecutor’s office on 25 January 2002. According to a document issued on 20 April 2006 by the acting district prosecutor, the scenario favoured by the investigators was the involvement of “power structures and military units”.
182.  On 25 January 2002 the fifth applicant was questioned and granted victim status. According to her statement, which was produced by the Government, unknown persons had entered the family’s house at about 3 a.m. on 11 January 2002 and taken her brother away. She had learnt of the crime from her uncle, the tenth applicant. She referred to the imprints of military boots that had been seen by the family members the following morning. While scarcely legible, another transcript of an interview with the fifth applicant dated 10 April 2002 indicates that on 5 January 2002 her brother had been away from home for the whole day and that on that day a landmine had exploded in Urus-Martan. She was further questioned on 3 December 2004, when she told the investigators about her visit to the Urus-Martan VOVD in April 2002 and her encounter with Alik Kh., who had told her about her brother’s alleged death in Grozny on 5 January 2002.
183.  The same file contains three other witness statements collected by the police detective Alik Kh. in April 2002 from residents of Gekhi. They concern the explosion of a landmine in Urus-Martan on 5 January 2002, as a result of which one serviceman had died. Two of the witnesses indicated one Ruslan K. from Gekhi as the person responsible for the explosion, and one witness mentioned that Magomed Soltymuradov had caused the explosion. The witness did not indicate the source of this knowledge.
184.  The tenth applicant was also questioned on 25 January 2002 and confirmed that on the night in question a group of men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks had broken down the door of his house, searched the house and left. In the morning he learnt that Magomed Soltymuradov had disappeared, and saw footprints in the fresh snow in the courtyard. He was not aware who had abducted his nephew and whether they had used any vehicles.
185.  The Government noted that the applicants had stated to the Court that RUB 4,000 had disappeared from their house; but had made no mention of this in their statements to the domestic investigators. They also specified that the fifth applicant had told the investigators “that [on 5 April 2002] the operational detective [of the Urus-Martan VOVD], Kh., had not informed her of the death of her brother, but had asked for information about the possible death of the latter”.
186.  On 6 December 2004 the investigators inspected the scene of the crime at no. 5 Polevaya Street, Urus-Martan.
187.  In June 2006 the pre-trial detention centres of the Northern Caucasus informed the investigators that Magomed Soltymuradov had not been detained in any of them.
188.  The documents submitted by the Government indicate that between January 2002 and June 2006 the investigation was adjourned on four occasions, and each time reopened upon the orders of supervising prosecutors owing to “the need to carry out additional investigative measures.”
189.  On 22 December 2001 the nineteenth applicant complained to the district prosecutor’s office about the detention of her son Sharpudi Visaitov on the previous night by military servicemen wearing masks. A similar statement was submitted by the fourteenth applicant on 3 January 2001 concerning the kidnapping of her son Rizvan Tatariyev.
190.  On 2 January 2002 the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation no. 25180. The decision stated that “at about 4 a.m. on 22 December 2001 servicemen from the federal forces wearing balaclavas, [had] detained and [taken] away in an unknown direction Rizvan Tatariyev and Sharpudi Visaitov. The whereabouts of the said persons [had] not been established”. Further decisions also referred to the “army camouflage uniforms” of the kidnappers.
191.  The fourteenth applicant was questioned on 3 January 2002. She gave a detailed statement about the kidnapping of her son in the early hours of 22 December 2001. She described their dark army uniforms and the electric lamps attached to the foreheads, as well as masks and said that they were armed with handguns. They had spoken Russian and forbidden the family members to follow them into the courtyard, unless they wanted Rizvan Tatariyev to be killed on the spot. The fourteenth applicant did not see or hear any vehicles that night. She was again questioned on 25 February 2003 and granted victim status in the proceedings. On 11 December 2004 she was questioned once more and repeated her statements. According to the Government, she was further interviewed on 28 July 2005, but no copy of her statement has been submitted.
192.  On 26 February 2003 the investigators questioned the sixteenth applicant. She confirmed her mother’s statements about a group of some eight to ten armed men in dark blue camouflage uniforms and masks, with electric lights attached to their foreheads, saying that the men had entered their house on the night of 22 December 2001, checked their documents and led away her brother Rizvan Tatariyev.
193.  On 28 February 2003 the nineteenth applicant was granted victim status and questioned. In her statement about the detention of her son Sharpudi Visaitov she recounted that soon after 3 a.m. on 22 December 2001 a group of seven to eight armed persons had entered their house, while about a dozen more remained in the courtyard. They were armed with automatic weapons and instructed the inhabitants to remain calm because it was a passport check. They checked the documents and looked around the house before leaving, taking Sharpudi Visaitov with them. They also took away the passport of the nineteenth applicant’s other son, Sharip Visaitov, probably by mistake. In the dark one of the applicant’s sons saw two UAZ cars and a large vehicle stationed further down the street, but could not make out any details. The same group then went to the Tatariyevs’ house.
194.  On 10 December 2004 the investigators again questioned the nineteenth applicant. She added that the intruders who had taken away her son had spoken unaccented Russian and that Sharpudi Visaitov was a friend of Rizvan Tatariev, who had also been kidnapped that same night.
195.  Also on 10 December 2004 the investigators questioned the eighteenth applicant, Sharpudi Visaitov’s father. His statements about the circumstances of the kidnapping were similar to those previously given by his wife. He stressed, in addition, that Sharpudi Visaitov and his friend Rizvan Tatariyev had never been involved in illegal activities and had no contact with illegal armed groups.
196.  On 12 December 2004 the investigators questioned another eye-witness of the abduction of Rizavn Tatraiyev: his brother’s wife. She confirmed that the kidnappers had been dressed in dark camouflage uniforms, and were masked and armed with automatic weapons. They had checked the residents’ passports and when they saw Rizvan Tatariyev, one of them said “It’s him”. They had spoken between themselves in Russian and did not address each other by name or rank.
197.  According to the Government, two other relatives of Sharpudi Visaitov who were not eye-witnesses to his abduction were also questioned in November 2004, but were not aware of the identities of the kidnappers. They did not produce copies of these statements.
198.  According to the information submitted by the Government, the investigation was resumed and suspended on numerous occasions. In June 2006 the investigators collected information from the Chechnya Department of the FSB, district departments of the Interior and temporary detention wards in Chechnya. None of these agencies had information about the detention of the two men or about their involvement with illegal armed groups.
199.  With regard to the three investigations, the Government stated that the applicants’ statements that those responsible for kidnapping their relatives belonged to State agencies could not be confirmed. It was impossible to identify the perpetrators of the crimes. The applicants had stated during questioning that they did not recall any details of the clothes, weapons or markings on the abductors’ uniforms.
200.  The Government stated that the investigating authorities had sent requests for information to the competent State agencies and taken other necessary steps, but had found no evidence to support the involvement of the “special structures” (специподразделений) in the crimes. The law‑enforcement authorities of Chechnya had never arrested or detained the applicants’ four relatives on criminal or administrative charges and had not opened criminal investigations into their actions. The investigations had been adjourned and reopened on several occasions, and the applicants had been informed of these developments. The Prosecutor General’s Office had supervised the progress of the investigations, which were ongoing.
201.  On 11 December 2002 Zaynap Dzhambekova (the first applicant), Aminat Ependiyeva (the fifth applicant) and Zara Tatariyeva (the fourteenth applicant) learned that on that day a “congress of the Chechen people” was to take place in the town of Gudermes. It was announced that the congress would be attended by members of the State Duma and the Chechnya and Federal Governments and by journalists. The three women decided that they would travel there and try to draw attention to their relatives’ plight. They were joined by a fourth woman who was also looking for her missing relative, Khamsat Ts.
202.  At about 2 p.m. on 11 December 2002 the three women arrived at the assembly hall in Gudermes where the congress was to take place. They chose a spot about 30-40 metres from the entrance, so as to be visible to the participants and the media. In order to get their message across they unfolded two homemade banners which read: “Give us back our sons”, “Stop abducting people” and “Stop the genocide”.
203.  The applicants said that their presence was noticed by journalists who started to film them. A few people came up to them and asked them questions. One elderly man approached them and asked where they were from and wished them good luck.
204.  After about five minutes a bus stopped nearby and about 25-30 policemen jumped out. They rushed at the women, threw their banners to the ground and destroyed them. Other policemen forced the women onto the bus, which took them to the Gudermes district department of the interior (ROVD). There they were put into a cell. Detained with them was the old man from Gudermes who had come up to them to express his sympathy and whose name they discovered was Khalid E.
205.  The applicants said that their cell was extremely cold and dirty. The window was not glazed but covered with a metal grille and a steel sheet with holes, through which cold air passed. Most of the cell was occupied by a wooden bunk with one dirty blanket. There were also plastic bottles with urine and remains of food strewn over the floor and the bunk. The applicants described the smell in the cell as unbearable.
206.  After about half an hour the applicants and Khalid E. were taken out of the cell one by one and searched. Their bags and clothes were also searched. Then an investigator questioned them about the picket and they signed the transcripts of their interviews. They were then returned to the cell.
207.  At about 5 p.m. they were taken out of the cell and escorted to the Gudermes Town Court. However, half-way to the court building a policeman caught up with them and said that the head of the ROVD had ordered them to return. The four women and Khalid E. were then taken back to the same cell.
208.  They started to bang on the door and demanded that they be kept separately from the man. They asked for their relatives to be notified of where they were. They also complained about the cold and dirt, but their complaints were ignored. The policeman on duty told them that they had no more blankets. The four women and Khalid E. spent the night in the cell, suffering from bitter cold. The first applicant said that during the night Khamsat Ts. and the fourteenth applicant, who were both over 60 years old, had suffered from cramps and that they had had to massage them and give them some heart medicine they found in their bags.
209.  In the morning of 12 December 2002 the women again demanded to be kept separately from the man, to be transferred to a heated cell, to be allowed to notify their relatives and to be given access to a lawyer. The staff of the ROVD noted their demands but did not do anything. Later that day two young men were brought to the same cell. Both had visible marks on their heads and said that they had been beaten by the police in order to make them confess. The cell now had four female and three male occupants.
210.  In the evening of 12 December 2002 the four women were taken out of the cell and taken to the temporary confinement ward (IVS). They were again searched and their belongings and medicines were taken from them. They were placed in a cell that was warm, but extremely dirty. There were several dirty mattresses and pillows and part of a blanket. There were also two buckets provided for use as toilets, which were emptied in the mornings. The guards told them that the door would remain locked during the night and that it was no use knocking. In the evening they were given some food and the guard told them that it had come from Khalid E., so the women guessed that it had been brought by his relatives. It was the first time in one and a half days that they had received any food. Later that night a guard brought them a loaf of bread and some hot water and said that it was the daily ration for four people. The women were appalled by such treatment and refused to accept it, declaring that they were on hunger strike.
211.  Later that night Khamsat Ts.’s condition again worsened. She suffered from diabetes and heart disease and was in pain. The applicants called the guard, and some time later she was taken to a duty doctor who gave her some pills before returning her to the cell. The doctor promised to inform the head of the ward that she was unfit for detention, but she remained in the cell another day.
212.  In the evening of 13 December 2002 the guards removed Khamsat Ts. from the cell and said that they would take her to hospital. The applicants were very worried about her, knowing that the curfew was already in place and that it was unlikely that there would be any doctors at the hospital in the evening.
213.  During the night of 13 to 14 December 2002 the applicants were awoken by the sound of blows and the cries of a man who was asking not to be beaten. They were very frightened and could not help thinking of their missing relatives, who were probably also subjected to beatings and torture. The three applicants remained in the same cell until 15 December 2002, refusing to accept food.
214.  On 15 December 2002 the first, fifth and fourteenth applicants were taken to the Gudermes Town Court. A lawyer invited by the NGO Memorial, which had been alerted by the applicants’ relatives, was also present. The judge invited them into the courtroom one by one and asked them about the circumstances of the picket and whether they had obstructed anyone’s passage or disturbed the public order. The applicants gave their account of the events and denied that they had created any disturbance. They also complained about the length and conditions of their detention. The first applicant submitted that the judge had orally agreed with them that their detention between 11 and 15 December 2002 had been unlawful and said that they would be released. She told them that the written decision would be issued later.
215.  The applicants explained that they did not insist on obtaining copies of the decisions because they were exhausted and sick and wanted to get home as soon as possible. The first applicant was feeling unwell and her husband, who had been waiting for her outside the court, took her to the nearest hospital, Grozny no. 7, where she remained until 8 January 2003. According to a certificate issued by that hospital, she was diagnosed with a number of acute bronchial and gastric illnesses, anaemia and other health problems.
216.  The applicants said that they obtained copies of the decisions issued on 15 December 2002 several days later. Identical decisions were issued in respect of the first, fifth and fourteenth applicants. The decisions stated that on 11 December 2002 each of them had participated in an unauthorised picket and had obstructed the holding of the congress of the Chechen people. Referring to section 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences (“Violation of the prescribed order governing the organisation or holding of a gathering, meeting, demonstration, march or picket”), the Gudermes Town Court sentenced each applicant to three days’ administrative detention.
217.  The Government did not submit any comments on the applicants’ complaints in their first set of observations. In their second set, they informed the Court that, according to the Ministry of the Interior, the Gudermes temporary detention ward was situated in a separate building and contained 11 cells with capacity for 38 detainees. The ward was equipped with electric lights, sleeping room and central heating. Ventilation was provided by the windows. Persons of the opposite sex were detained separately. In cases of need, an ambulance could be called from the Gudermes district hospital. As to the applicants’ situation in December 2002, the registration logs of the administrative detainees and the record of administrative offences had been destroyed since the period they were required to be held in the archives was established by a ministerial decree of 2005 at three years. The Government did not submit any documents in support of these assertions.
218.  On 23 December 2002 the first and fifth applicants appealed against the decisions of the Gudermes Town Court. They argued that section 20.2 of the Code provided for up to fifteen days’ administrative detention only in cases where an unauthorised meeting had been held in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear energy facility. In all other cases the section prescribed only a fine. The applicants also denied that they had disturbed the holding of the congress or otherwise breached public order. The first and fifth applicants complained that their detention for four days had been unlawful and that they had been detained in inhuman conditions. In particular, they mentioned that they had had to share a cell with men, that the cell was very cold and they had received no warm blankets, that the only food they had received on 13 December 2002 was some hot water and a loaf of bread to be shared by four people. The applicants added that the conditions had led to health problems for all of them. They claimed RUB 200,000 each in damages from the Gudermes ROVD.
219.  The fourteenth applicant did not appeal against the decision of 15 December 2002.
220.  On 27 January 2003 the Chechnya Supreme Court reviewed the first and fifth applicants’ appeals. It overturned the decisions of 15 December 2002 in so far as they had sentenced the applicants to administrative arrest, owing to the absence of such a penalty in section 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences and sentenced each of them to a fine in the amount of five minimum monthly wages. Because they had already served the detention they were exempted from payment of the fines. The Supreme Court did not address the applicants’ complaints concerning the lawfulness and conditions of, or compensation for, their detention.
221.  The first and fifth applicants tried to obtain supervisory review of the decision of 27 January 2003 and requested that their civil claims to the ROVD be reviewed. Their requests were turned down by the Chechnya Supreme Court.